South Louisiana Bank rolls past Robichaux Ford

THIBODAUX – The South Louisiana Bank Gators excelled in all three phases of Monday’s Swampland Baseball League game against Robichaux Ford.

With their offense, defense and pitching coming up with big plays in the game, the Gators rolled to a 9-1 victory at Ray E. Didier Field.

On offense, South Louisiana Bank (11-3 overall) tallied 14 hits.

On defense, the Gators made three double plays in key situations.

And with the pitching of Alex Prestenbach and Josh Neil, they held Robichaux Ford hitless in the game.

Needless to say, it was a great night for the Gators.

“We did a good job in all aspects of the game,” South Louisiana Bank coach Terrel Hebert said. “We rely on good pitching and defense. That’s what we count on to win ballgames.”

Robichaux Ford coach Josh Constant said his team didn’t make enough plays.

“We just got out-played in every aspect,” Constant said. “They pitched better than us, they hit better than us and they played defense better than us. We won’t win too many ballgames when that happens.”

Robichaux Ford, a Vandebilt Catholic based team, jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead in the first inning when T.J. Freeman, who walked, scored on an error.

From that point, South Louisiana Bank, a South Terrebonne-based team, began to roll.

In the bottom of the first inning, Jonathan Dupre (2-for-3, four RBIs) reached on a single and later scored the Gators’ first run on a RBI double from Carl LeBlanc (2-for-3).

With the bases loaded in the bottom of the second inning, Dupre hit a three-run double, which put the Gators ahead 4-1.

Robichaux Ford (7-6) threatened to tie the game by loading the bases with one out in the top of the third inning, but Prestenbach struck out two straight batters to end the inning.

The Gators continued to add to their lead in bottom of the third inning when Nick Lirette’s RBI single scored Neil (2-for-3), who reached on a fielder’s choice. Ronnie Belanger added a sacrifice fly that brought home Steven Wurzlow, who singled, making the score 6-1.

In the fourth inning, South Louisiana Bank’s Brock Hebert reached on a triple and later scored on a fielder’s choice. Later, Neil increased the Gators lead to 8-1 with a RBI triple that brought home Prestenbach.

Once again, in the fifth inning, Robichaux Ford was able to load the bases with one out, but the Gators came up with a huge double play to end the inning.

Hebert said the Gators defense did a great job of ending rally attempts by Robichaux Ford.

“Sometimes the bounces just go your way and (Monday) they went our way,” Hebert said. “Every time it looked like Robichaux Ford was getting ready to do something, we made a big play.”

The Gators scored their final run of the game in the sixth inning on a RBI single from Neil.

Robichaux Ford stranded nine base runners in the game.

“We didn’t hit when we needed to,” Constant said. “The theme of our season is leaving runners on base.”

Prestenbach (four innings, no hits, no runs, five walks, and four strikeouts) got the win for South Louisiana Bank, while Neil (three innings, no hits, no runs, two walks, and one strikeout) pitched in relief.

Cory LePeze (four innings, nine hits, eight runs, one walk, one strikeout) took the loss for Robichaux Ford. Freeman (five hits, one run, three strikeouts) pitched the final two innings in relief.

Brenner Callais (4-for-4, four runs, two doubles, one RBI) led the Bayou Boys (11-3 overall) at the plate. Other batting leaders were Coley Bychurch (3-for-4, two runs, four RBIs), Thomas Schwarze (3-for-3, one RBI) and Brett Orgeron (2-for-3, two runs, one double).

Gage Duet (five innings, seven hits, four runs, two earned runs) picked up the win for the Bayou Boys.

Stephen Daigneault (3 2/3 innings, nine hits, a hit batsman, one walk, four strikeouts) took the loss for Sonic, while Travis Malbrough (four hits, one walk, three strikeouts) pitched the reminder of the game in relief.